Whether working on games or spending time together playing them, a Pinball Dad is a silent hero that works endlessly in hopes to create those lasting memories. Thank you to all the Pin-Dads out there. Show him you care by getting him pinball parts and accessories for Father’s Day!
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This Month’s “Location of the Month” is Recbar and they currently have about 70 pinball machines and about 60 arcade games at their J-Town location. (70 pins and 100+ arcade games and at Recbar 812 and will have around 30 pins and 30 arcade games at Tilty Bob’s in Lexington) They are a full service bar and restaurant. They have one of the best bourbon selections around with over 200 bourbon offerings available. Their food menu focuses on great shareable appetizers including their well known totchos. (Tater tot nacho varieties) They also offer burgers, sandwiches, tacos with a twist, salads and dessert.
Q: When did you get into the pinball business?
A: We’ve been collecting games for about 10 years. Our first location opened April 5, 2016.
Q: When did you open this location?
A: April 5, 2016 for our original location in Louisville. Our second venue, Recbar 812, opened in New Albany, IN in February 2020. We are currently working on a third concept, Tilty Bob’s that is set to open in Lexington, KY in March 2022.
Q: Do you guys run any tournaments or leagues? If so can you give us more details?
A: We run a weekly tournament on Sunday evenings. It’s a group match play format. Pre-pandemic we averaged around 35-40 players on a weekly basis. We just recently got them going again at the beginning of 2022. We also host Stern Army launch parties and the late night tournament after Louisville Arcade Expo.
Q: Do you have a specific pinball night and what other events/specials do you run?
A: Sunday is our pinball focused night.
Q: Do you fix your own games or do you use a local operator/tech?
A: We have our main tech, Steve, on hand to fix machines full-time. We also have a few other part-time techs and lots of helpful hands from the local pinball community.
Q: What’s the last game you brought in and how often do you rotate?
A: (At the time of this writing) Rush Pro just hit the floor and we’re adding a Williams Indiana Jones, Dialed In LE and Doctor Who very soon. We try to rotate machines somewhat frequently between our venues as well as regularly shopping out our machines.
Q: What would be your holy grail of a machine?
A: Man, grail game is a tough question. I’d probably have to go with Tales of the Arabian Nights. Such a cool, unique machine that you just don’t see very often and a machine we have never owned.
Q: Do you partner with any other locations?
A: We also own Recbar 812 in New Albany, IN and soon to be Tilty Bob’s in Lexington, KY. We are also opening a retro retail store, West Main Retro, that will sell used arcade & pinball machines, toys, retro collectibles, sports memorabilia, bar decor and more.
Q: Do you go to any shows and IF SO which one is your favorite?
A: We attend every Louisville Arcade Expo and help out that crew in any way we can to make it a killer show! Of course that’s our favorite! We love Corey & Joe! We’ve also been to Pincinnati, Southern Fried Gaming Expo & Grand Ole Gameroom (now Music City Multi-Con).
Q: And your closing thoughts and what you do for the pinball community or your local community?
A: The local pinball community is so awesome. Our Recbar Pinball Crew has grown quite a bit over the years and has created great long-lasting friendships. Tony & myself have loved watching our collection grow from 8 machines to a room with 30 machines and the final expansion to 70 machines. Now our total collection has grown to over 200 pins and we are working diligently to get all of those machines out in various areas for guests to enjoy. Without the community support, that would not have happened. We wanted Recbar to be a fun space for everyone to have a good time over games we love. We’ve been fortunate enough to host a Little Flippers pinball clinic with the help of Kentuckiana Pinball and other members of the community. This clinic had around 25 kids who basically spent a day camp with us learning about the machines and how to play. Pinball is something all walks of life can enjoy and we will continue to help grow the hobby as much as we possibly can.
We try to do as many charity events as possible for the community. We have a huge annual Toy Drive and School Supply Drive. We also host appreciation nights for teachers, healthcare workers, first responders, and others throughout the year.
Meet Phil Forrester Jr., located in Greenville, South Carolina. He, along with his dad (Phil Sr.) own and operate The Phil’s Pinball. We mainly refurb and rent pinball machines. We do some sales as well. We service mainly Upstate South Carolina and the surrounding areas.
Phil says: “I got my start in pinball 4.5 years ago refurbishing a Gottlieb Charlie’s Angels with my dad. We caught the bug and have been working on machines ever since! Now we enjoy not only repairing them but playing them.”
I dove head first into repair. The refurb, transformation, and bringing things back from the dead is what drew me into the hobby the most. The playing new machines and the community of people have been icing on the cake.
Q: How did you first get into the hobby? Did you jump right into repairing machines or did you learn under someone else?
“My dad and I were looking for a way to spend time together. Our first machine was a basket case Gottlieb Charlie’s Angels. Took us about 6 months to go through everything, boards and all, to get it going again. The rest was history. Over the years were have owned over 125 machines. Most were projects that we repaired.
I dove head first into repair. The refurb, transformation, and bringing things back from the dead is what drew me into the hobby the most. The playing new machines and the community of people have been icing on the cake.”
Q: Follow up, Did you have a background in another field that made that transition easier?
“My dad was a computer programmer and analyst my whole life. We had computers before anyone else. That led me to always being around computers and I now work in the IT support industry as well.
My favorite project was restoring our original Attack from Mars. We completely redid the cabinet with new Rad Cal decal art and a new repro playfield, LEDs, and all. It was a ton of work but it looks and plays great now.
Q: Some techs have a particular aspect they really enjoy working on or they have a specialized set of skills (ie: boards, EMs, new Sterns, restoring cabinet art, etc) — do you specialize in something? or what’s your favorite aspect to work on?
“My favorite part is getting the electronic and mechanical parts working again. I love troubleshooting problems and feel as though my brain was made for it. Solving problems makes me happy. My dad loves to clean the machines up, tear them down, fix plastics, etc. . All the stuff that makes them look good again. We make a great team! “
Q: What are you working on now and in the past, What has been your favorite project/game that you worked on?
“We are currently doing a hardtop on a Williams Space Shuttle and doing a refurb job on an Indianapolis 500 for Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum.
My favorite project was restoring our original Attack from Mars. We completely redid the cabinet with new Rad Cal decal art and a new repro playfield, LEDs, and all. It was a ton of work but it looks and plays great now.”
Q: What is the best way to contact you and what areas do you service? Do you also operate your own route? If so, would you like to shout out those locations?
Get your pins ready for Mother’s Day! (Sunday May 8th) There is no better way to spend Mother’s Day than playing pinball with your PIN-MOM! Surprise her this year with cool gifts from Marco Pinball.
For Orders Over $99
Free Domestic Shipping & $10 Off International Shipping
COUPON CODE: PIN-MOM22
Codes are CASE-SENSITIVE, use all caps to activate! Domestic orders receive USPS/FEDEX GROUND shipping. Make sure to click the “USPS Priority” option to get your shipment before Mother’s Day! For International orders, input code on International CheckoutPage. Offer valid from Sunday 5/1/22 – Tuesday 5/3/22 at 11:59PM PT
This Month’s “Location of the Month” is Fort Wayne Pinball Wizard’s World Arcade. They are located at 14613 Lima Rd, Fort Wayne IN 46818 where they currently have 136 Pinball machines. And, their team is presently working toward expanding the collection to well over 200 pinball machines before their big Wizard’s World War tournament in June. In 2021 Fort Wayne was excited to host 108 players, gave away a brand New Stern Pinball machine, along with loads of cash prizes. Mike is set out to build a World Class Championship Pinball Venue that host tournaments and also open to the public year round. Mike is back on track and certainly looking forward to another capstone tournament this summer.
Wizard’s World opens at noon 7 days a week with a very accommodating schedule. Monday they are open until 11pm (or whenever the weekly tourney is over), Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday they’re open until 9pm, Friday and Saturday open until 10pm and Sunday until 8pm.
Q: When did you get into the pinball business?
A: I’ve been playing pinball since the early 70’s when we only had EM (electromagnetic) machines to play. Being the only employee at the original Wizard’s World in 1980 from the day it opened until the day it closed has always been special to me and definitely established our vision for today. Thinking back, I recall purchasing my first machine in 1986 and the rest is history in the making.
Q: When did you open this location?
A: Fort Wayne Pinball Wizard’s World Arcade opened December 15, 2017. Since that time, we’ve grown through three renovations with room to expand even more.
Q: Do you guys run any tournaments or leagues? If so can you give us more details?
A: We run 4 major tournaments a year:
· $500 Silverball Spring Training in March; · $12,000 in Cash and Prizes Wizard’s World War tournament in June · WOW (Women of Wizard’s World) Tournament in August (this year our goal is to give away a brand new Stern Pinball machine); · $500 Wizard’s World Silverball Saturday Shootout in November.
Plus:
· Every Monday at 7pm is our weekly 4 strike tournament (52 times a year), the third Sunday every month we host the Stern Army Boot Camp and only modern Stern Pinball machines are used (12 times per year). · The 2nd and 4th Friday’s are the Women’s 4 strike tournament (24 times per year). · The 2nd and 4th Friday’s are the Wiz Kids 3 strike Youth tournament (24 times per year). · Launch Party’s, Charity Events and special requests.
All the tournaments are registered on the IFPA website or you can check our event tab at www.facebook.com/fwapinball.
Q: Do you have a specific pinball night and what other events/specials do you run?
We host company parties, holiday gatherings, and birthday celebrations just to name a few special events throughout the year.
Q: Do you fix your own games or do you use a local operator/tech?
A: Matt Ogden of Ogdog’s Pinball Pleasures (OPP) and his staff maintain our games on the overnight shift. Matt is a great partner and teammate with total control of machine maintenance and performance.
Q: What’s the last game you brought in and how often do you rotate?
A: We try to stay out front when it comes to new offerings; for example, Ultraman arrived in early February and Rush Pro the week before that. Rotation is very important to enhancing the variety of play options and maintaining a fresh appearance to our players. Technically speaking, rotation is based on maintenance or refurbishment requirements and customer play count. For example, if play drops on a title we will reposition or rotate that machine out and replace it with a fresh one.
Q: What would be your holy grail of a machine?
A: This one may come back to haunt me but here goes – they’re like my children, I love them all the same.
Q: Do you partner with any other locations?
A: We look at partnering perhaps a little differently. It’s our culture to help out wherever we can to support the pinball industry and certainly promote the excitement of playing; however Wizard’s World is our only location for the time being. We do visit arcades when traveling. My wife and I visited Free Gold Watch in San Francisco last October and she visited The Electric Bat in Phoenix recently. It’s always fun to meet new friends and enjoy their hospitality.
Q: Do you go to any shows and IF SO which one is your favorite?
A: I’ve attended shows my entire career and appreciate the value of having vendors and customers all under one roof. Once again, the value of my upbringing in another industry has paved the way to attend as many conventions as possible. For the record, Expo is my favorite.
Q: And your closing thoughts and what you do for the pinball community or your local community?
A: We are honored to partner with our community and provide a great resource to help raise funds in a very unique way by orchestrating, running, and promoting charity pinball tournaments for various groups. One event we were particularly excited to help with last year was a local middle school’s science class built Pinball Machines as a project. To support the effort, we were able to provide technical guidance and prizes for the top vote getters plus a souvenir for each student. This innovative approach was reported to be a success and I understand they plan to make the contest an annual project.
Meet Ryan McNamara, located in Burbank, Illinois working under Midnight Arcade Repair & Service who has been repairing and tech-ing for 15 years now.
Q: How did you first get into the hobby? Did you jump right into repairing machines or did you learn under someone else?
Not one to mince words, Ryan said:
“Worked for an old family friend and learned from others. “
Q: Some techs have a particular aspect they really enjoy working on or they have a specialized set of skills (ie: boards, EMs, new Sterns, restoring cabinet art, etc) — do you specialize in something? or what’s your favorite aspect to work on?
“I work on Electro-Mechanical pinball machines and Solid State pinball machines. I do board repair that ranges from the mpu, driver board, light board, power supply board and more.”
Q: What are you working on now and in the past, What has been your favorite project/game that you worked on?
“Current works in progress is: 1964 Monte Carlo (single player), Bally Wizard and a TMNT.
Q: What is the best way to contact you and what areas do you service? Do you also operate your own route? If so, would you like to shout out those locations?
“Phone number 1-708-551-4815 Midnight Arcade Repair & Service 8215 Mayfield Ave, Burbank, IL 60459 (708) 551-4815 https://g.co/kgs/MA1YRv“
Have someone you want to nominate to for the Tech of the Month? E-mail [email protected]!
by Krystle GemnichThe Texas Pinball Festival Recap Episode
For the first time in three years at the embassy suites in Frisco Texas with over 50 vendors, 25 events and 400 pinball machines, the Texas pinball festival was back…and is back. Stick with me and we’re going to relive the excitement of this terrific show.
I love the potential of an empty hall. The ability and the hard work it takes to fill a space with over 400 pinball machines, merch booths and humans is really admirable and astonishing. The Marco crew arrived to a very empty hall on Thursday, very early in the morning with an empty space for all our stuff and a lot of promise. By Friday we were all set for a really fast paced and quick going Texas pinball festival. We teamd up with FUN! Billiards and Gameroom super store and Craig Hassel. We had a fun and exciting weekend ahead of ourselves. As we got started, we found our team growing. A lot of extended family of Marco Pinball joined us; the French streamers from RB Flip, home-brew builder Matt Benzik, and Jack Danger and Michael Grant from Stern pinball. Some of the fellas from Spooky came over and helped us build our booth as well! The support from these people is a testament to just how great the pinball community can be.
The Show opened and we were all set. Some of our booth features included a RUSH selfie station, over 20 new Stern releases including RUSH, Godzilla and The Mandalorian. Each of these games was outfitted with an Insider Connected QR code reader which would allow show attending to scan their phones and record all of their scores, tracking their progress on each of the machines. Their progress was recorded and if they did well, the would make it on the leaderboard to enter the running to win a prize.
We also had a learn to stream pinball set up with one RUSH premium and a mirror and camera stand which was put together by the streamers RB Flip.
Now I’d like to talk a bit about the rest of the show; some of the stuff outside of our own booth. There were lots of mech venders selling different t-shirts and stickers and all kinds of fun pinball related swag. This included Double Danger and Soft plunge as well as Brad Albright, the designer of our Pintech Logo with the futuristic pinball tech. This shirt also glows in the dark! You can get it on the website if you saw it at the show and loved it, you should definitely get one! Just type part number 59-PINTECH into the search bar and it’ll bring up all of the sizes!
Sylvester McCoy, one of the Dr. Whos had a booth on the show floor and there was a giant Tardis and Dalek. Sylvester McCoy also presented a TWIPY at the TWIPY’s ceremony. I heard that the Tardis was sold to a local Texan, so it might so up somewhere interesting!
One of my personal favorite parts of every TPF I attend is the “prewars” or the penny arcade bagatelles. It’s a special booth run by a very nice gentleman named Jeff Frick. He provides you with a little cup of pennies so you can go ahead and play these wood rails and these very special antiques. It’s kind of amazing that he’s able to keep them functioning and that we were even able to play them.
There were a few home-brew pinball machines. There was a billy Madison home-brew, which also won best Home-brew of TPF. There was an ELF home-brew which is based on the Will Ferrell Christmas movie. At the front of the hall was a game called Philina which was Phil Grimaldi’s custom Wedding pinball machine. He spoke to us about this game on MarcoTV at Houston arcade and pinball expo. It was really cool to see it in person and to be able to step and play.
Brian & Jeff from Stupid Pinball wins Best Homebrew for Billy Madison Pinball at TPF2022
Next to that game was Cary Hardy’s own Getaway Project which he had worked hard on to restore and make look brand new. I believe he won a best in show award for that machine, so good going Cary!
Congratulations to Cary Hardy for winning the Best in Show Award at TPF2022
P3 also had 2 of their new Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity to play. As always, there was never not a line, just like anytime there is a new game release at a show. We didn’t get a chance to play due to time constraints, but hopefully we’ll get the chance soon, and we can talk about it next time! Some other show favorites we saw; two linked NBA Fastbreaks, a Steve Zissou game based on the film The Life Aquatic, 4 or 5 Aliens from the pinball brothers in the Cointaker booth, Big Lebowski, Rudi’s Nightmare (or Funhouse 2.0) which was a fun new take on an old game.
We had a chance to attend a few seminars. My favorite seminar was the FAST seminar featuring Brian McFadden and Aaron Davis. (www.fastpinball.com) They talked a little bit about their board platforms. These guys cater to indie pinball developers and boutique builders. They really want to take care of the homebrewer community. They offer a lot of support and really make their architecture easy to “drop in” as they say. I’m really interested to see what these guys come up with and hopefully get to talk to them in the future.
The other seminar we caught was the Chicago Gaming seminar with Butch Peel, going over the new release of Cactus canyon remake.
Seeing the behind the scenes aspects of building games is one of the things is one aspect of seminars that makes them interesting to attend.
Butch spoke a bit about some of the new updated components of the game: Some of the mechanics and the way they were incorporating RGB lighting and inductive ball sensors just to help with old issues from the original game. Lots of artwork and molded figures, and a new topper. He spoke on the show presence of Cactus canyon and how the games have played at different shows and how they were received and what they’ve learned from these show experiences to help improve the games.
Early Saturday morning (maybe a bit TOO early) me and Imoto and Serene, one of our graphics designers attended the Swap meet in the parking lot of the Embassy suites. Apparently a few people beat the crowd, getting up as early as 6 am to buy up some pinball machines. There were a few trucks filled with different pinball games and arcade cabs and goodies. Around the parking lot there were a lot of tables set up selling old parts, pieces, magazines and toys. At the entrance of the convention center, the Belles and Chimes from all over Texas were doing a meet and greet, serving donuts, coffee and mimosas for anyone coming to say hello. It was really cool to see Belles from not only Texas but Chicago and Florida all meeting up and exchanging swag and stories.
Saturday night was “party time.” The TWIPY’s were held at around 8pm and hosted by Jack Danger and Imoto. One fantastic highlight of the TWIPY’s was Todd Tuckey’s long overdue win for Best Youtube streamer, which everyone was so thrilled to see. If you were not able to catch the event live, the VOD is available at www.twipys.com.
The TWIPY’s after-party featured two dj sets; one from our own DJ m-Tort and another from Scott Danesi. 5 new pinball machines were set up next to the stage for everyone to play including a Godzilla, Hot Wheels, Valhalla, Cactus Canyon and Halloween.
Sunday is always tough, because the show seems to speed by. The first part of the day has a lot of catching up and cleaning up and the second part of the day requires breakdown, so the booth has to come down and everyone says their good byes.
It’s always a fast-going weekend and it’s so terrific to see everyone, meet customers and make new friends and experience the local community. Shows are really special so if you ever come out to visit our booth, thank you. If you dont, then do so next time!
You can find more info about the Texas Pinball Festival at texaspinball.com.
That is a wrap on the recap of the Texas pinball festival. Stop by next month for our recap of the Midwest Gaming classic which is taking place April 29th-May 1st. That’s in downtown Milwaukee at the Wisconsin Center. You can get more information on that show at www.midwestgamingclassic.com.
